The suggestion by Donald Trump that guns are part of the solution to knife crime in London is ridiculous, a trauma surgeon in the capital has said. The US president told the National Rifle Association convention in Dallas on Friday that a “once very prestigious hospital” in London was like a “warzone”.

He appeared to be referring to reported comments by Martin Griffiths, a lead trauma surgeon at the Royal London hospital in Whitechapel, who likened the spate of stabbing victims coming through the doors to scenes in a military hospital.

Prof Karim Brohi, another surgeon at the hospital and the director of London’s major trauma system, said knife violence was a serious issue for London. “We are proud of the excellent trauma care we provide and of our violence reduction programmes,” he said in a statement on Saturday. “The Royal London hospital has cut the number of our young patients returning after further knife attacks from 45% to 1%.

Donald Trump says London hospital is like ‘war zone’ because of knife crime

Read more

“There is more we can all do to combat this violence, but to suggest guns are part of the solution is ridiculous. Gunshot wounds are at least twice as lethal as knife injuries and more difficult to repair. We are proud of our world-leading service and to serve the people of London.”

In his speech, Trump used a familiar argument to defend gun ownership, asking whether vans, trucks and cars, which have also been used by terrorists, should be banned. Then he turned to knives.

“I recently read a story that in London, which has unbelievably tough gun laws, a once very prestigious hospital, right in the middle, is like a warzone for horrible stabbing wounds,” he said. “Yes, that’s right, they don’t have guns, they have knives, and instead there’s blood all over the floors of this hospital. They say it’s as bad as a military warzone hospital.”

Trump stabbed the air several times with an imaginary knife and muttered: “Knives, knives, knives.

“London hasn’t been used to that. They’re getting used to it. Pretty tough. We’re here today because we recognise a simple fact. The one thing that has always stood between the American people and the elimination of our second amendment rights has been conservatives in Congress willing to fight for those rights. We’re fighting.”

The London mayor, Sadiq Khan, who has previously clashed with Trump over terrorist attacks in the capital, declined to respond to the president’s latest remarks.

Charlie Falconer, a former justice secretary, said: “Trump makes Londoners dislike him more, and the US dislike London more. Mutual dislike is not good as the UK leaves the EU. Trump gives the impression he couldn’t give a fig.”

Charlie Falconer (@LordCFalconer)

4.88 per 100000 murdered in US per annum, 0.92 per 100000 in UK. Implication UK has similar murder rate to US except knives not guns obviously false. Trump lies on everything, but lots of people in US now believe London a knife-armed war zone. https://t.co/4G9JGLeWBg

The shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott, set Trump’s comments in the context of Conservative cuts to policing resources and the influence that has had on the rise in violent crime.

Diane Abbott (@HackneyAbbott)

Hardly see how violent crime in London justifies the licensing of guns in the US. Last month a leaked Home Office doc stated that it was Tory police cuts that "likely contributed” to a rise in serious violent crime.https://t.co/DYiwJIswp6

The most recent complete set of official data on crime in the US, the 2016 uniform crime report published by the FBI, showed that there were 5.3 murders and non-negligent manslaughters per 100,000 people, equal to 53 per million.

Police-recorded crime in England and Wales for the same period, published by the Office for National Statistics, showed 10 homicides – murder and manslaughter – per million.

It was not immediately clear which story Trump had read about London, but it was possibly a Mail Online article published last month, which had the headline: “Surgeon says he is regularly treating children in school uniform for gun and knife wounds in London hospital which is ‘like Afghan war zone’.”

The article quoted a BBC Radio 4 interview with Griffiths and said the Royal London had treated a record 702 stabbing victims in 2017. “Griffiths said colleagues who served in the military likened their work at the London hospital to being back at Camp Bastion, the British forces base in war-torn Afghanistan,” Mail Online reported.

Trump is due to make a “working visit” to the UK on 13 July, for which mass protests are expected.

Khan tweeted last month: “If he comes to London, President Trump will experience an open and diverse city that has always chosen unity over division and hope over fear. He will also no doubt see that Londoners hold their liberal values of freedom of speech very dear.”

It emerged late on Saturday that Trump and Theresa May had held talks amid the controversy but there was no indication in a White House statement that the leaders had discussed the issue of knife violence or the president’s remarks about the London hospital.